Kona Ironman Championships 2017

Ironman Championship 2017 Kona, Hawaii

This was my first opportunity to watch and photography the Ironman Championships 2017 in Kailua Kona. Luckily it was all within a short distance from our home on Alii Drive. We were lucky enough to find a wall to sit on at the Kona Inn across Kailua Bay from the race start. I'm not sure my photos do justice to what literally was a "sea" of triathletes.

After the pro-triathletes finished their swim we took a short walk to Kuakini Highway to photograph the bike riders as they began their 120 mile bike ride from Kailua Kona to Hawi. They were my favorite to photography. It took me a few tries to get my technique down. I shot with a relatively slow shutter speed and followed them while panning my camera to create a motion blur background while keeping the athlete in focus. BTW if anyone out there reading this participated in in the 2017 Ironman Championships please contact me with your name and athlete number and I'll check to see if I was able to catch any good images with you.

After we finished watching the bikes we heading back to our home on Alii Drive with to wait for the runners. It wasn't long before the pro-athletes began their 26.22 mile run which went directly past our home.